Queen K wrote:I can't remember ever receiving any history on native issues until I went to college and actually signed up for the courses.

That’s why it is so important we start teaching the complete history to high school students so this generation is not so ill-informed of our history. You can see the ignorance of First Nations issues repeatedly demonstrated on these threads by posters who have no interest in challenging their erroneous ideas or knowing truth. The information is there, it always has been, but some don’t even recognize their inherent biases and would rather find ways to justify their bigotry and prejudice.

It's funny how people with the least knowledge of an issue often have the strongest opinions on it

Loki2u wrote: Just a thought, but perhaps instead of the teachers worrying about saying the wrong thing, they incorporate the "worrying about saying the wrong thing" as part of the lesson?

That’s a great point. Off the top I think there are going to be three general groups of people. There will be those who have the education and know more than the average person about these issues and how they persist. Then there will be a group who were unaware, but will be open to learning and will change many of their conceptions because of having that knowledge. Then there will be that third group who will ignore and deny the knowledge so that they don’t have to change their opinion. Some people, given the choice, want to know truth. Some will still have no interest in knowing it.

It's funny how people with the least knowledge of an issue often have the strongest opinions on it

This is such a complicated topic... I want teachers to be afraid, to some degree at least - I had 2 or 3 teachers growing up that were straight up abusive. Afraid for saying the wrong thing about a culture or otherwise educational topic... well I'd love to say all our teachers are walking Internets but they're not.

What's happening which is making teachers feel this way? Also what is so wrong with having subject-matter experts sit in on classes about the certain topics? As long as their role is to educate and not police then I don't see a problem there.

To be clear, I don't think a school of any kind is the place to be biased, mislead or ignore facts.

I think teaching the historical/social sciences lessons about the Indigenous history isn't so much the problem. The curriculum is quite clear and there is lots of good resources out there with all the recent prevailing theories etc. Plus most school districts for at least 10 years have been doing field trips to closed residential schools which presented information created and executed by Indigenous people which is very helpful.

The part that is troublesome in my perspective is to incorporate an Indigenous perspective into areas of the curriculum such as math and science. I would have appreciated some more direction on how best to accomplish this. I think it'll be easier to incorporate for the really little ones, but more of a challenge in the intermediate elementary grades.

Let the record show that 200 years ago colonists turned their back on the impoverished indigenous after completely screwing over their way of life. We argued in court the legalities of providing healthcare to indigenous as tuberculosis swept across the land and instead touted false reports that it was the indigenous themselves who were to blame. One of many tragic stories of the events that unfolded in our great but sometimes (some would argue often) ugly history.

I'm completely okay with people not feeling ashamed or guilty - you didn't do this and it's not your burden. You do however have to acknowledge that it happened and respect the enumerable lessons to be learned from it. That is the difference between being an ignorant moron and a rational human being.

I entered the BC public education system in 1995 and left it in 2008. I can (as I'm sure many others can) attest to first nations studies to be glossed over during my stint. Admittedly in middle school we had a first nations class. It was generally regarded as "the stupid and/or native kids class" - in that it was a class native kids took, and for some reason all the lazy/dumb kids got forced to take it instead of social studies (including one of my friends). I actually didn't realise how ironic that was until just now. And for the record, I think it's all pretty indicative that even for how well I think people my age turned out in regards to their stance on all of this (purely based off my experiences), we still have lots of ground to cover. So I say let's keep talking about it.

StraitTalk wrote:I hope the relative silence in this thread is a good sign.

Me too. In general terms, I would expect one of two responses to the information presented:

a) Gee, I wasn’t aware of all that; how recent most of this history actually is and that it is not ancient at all (St Mary's Indian Residential School in Mission B.C. did not close until 1984, 70 to 80 children removed in “child scoop” in Quesnel in 1998), and how many of these injustices, in fact, still persist. That is quite an eye opener and changes my perspective.

Or,

b) I don’t care about truth, historical fact or any other kind of fact. I already know what I know and all those damn Indians are looking for is a free ride. (therefore, given all the factual information presented here on the first page in this thread, I will for the moment just keep all my bigoted views to myself to use again at a later date)

It's funny how people with the least knowledge of an issue often have the strongest opinions on it

There has been unfortunately a vast gap of knowledge in our educational system regarding the history of indigenous people in Canada.If I were teaching now, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.Years back when I was young and foolish I introduced in a small way some native legends with young children. I did it at the suggestion of my school district and with the best of intentions. Immediately I was criticized because I didn't do it somehow right. How would I have known? But, I learned my lesson. If there is to be any sharing/teaching of indigenous issues, it should be done by First Nations. They can do it however they see as appropriate and not be putting our teachers in a bind for doing the wrong thing, or doing it the wrong way.

Osoyoos_Familyof4 wrote:I think teaching the historical/social sciences lessons about the Indigenous history isn't so much the problem. The curriculum is quite clear and there is lots of good resources out there with all the recent prevailing theories etc. Plus most school districts for at least 10 years have been doing field trips to closed residential schools which presented information created and executed by Indigenous people which is very helpful.

The part that is troublesome in my perspective is to incorporate an Indigenous perspective into areas of the curriculum such as math and science. I would have appreciated some more direction on how best to accomplish this. I think it'll be easier to incorporate for the really little ones, but more of a challenge in the intermediate elementary grades.

In the first link, one thing I find curious under "First Nations Schools". which claimed to have 5000 students. Surely there have to be more than that in First Nations schools?On another note 60% of young adult First Nations do not complete highschool education. The system has failed these young people as far as I am concerned, in spite of the flowery language in government publications about First Nations education.

The mother’s first husband committed suicide before they had children.

The second husband, their father, was a hardened criminal, but when he got out of jail, he straightened out, got a job, and then dropped dead one day at work.

The girl, first child, is dyslectic, but with hard work at home she made it all the way through school to graduate with a degree in early childhood education. She helped pay her way by working as a server in an exclusive mens’ club.

The boy, second child, dropped out of high school and went labouring back 'up north.' Got into the energy sector and got laid off in the downturn. Upgraded online, just graduated as an EMT, and now the fire-line beckons. Take a page from Elliot here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWsKJoLiDe0 Word gets around fast in the 'hive.'

And as Penticton Indian Band Elder, Pierre Kruger once said in a media interview about Boonstock. “Young people . . . we can’t control them, you know."

And these dang kids sure have minds of their own.

Still, the mother, backed up by the second husband’s grandmother raised them to high-school age in the ‘north’. With plenty of family help there and from elsewhere, they all moved ‘south’ to the city until the kids were ready to leave the nest.

The grandmother moved back ‘home’ where she insists these kids will, and do, visit her sometime during their holidays as a retreat to the ‘traditional.’ She's still a devout Catholic.

The mother and her current partner stayed to continue their work in a city shelter.

In regards to the link to the curriculum "rationale": I understand the rationale and I agree with the rationale. what I'm lacking is "enough" of a cultural perspective to make "links" to the Indiginous culture from a math and science perspective. I think I have a decent enough education to teach what happened, where I'm lacking is how to construct a lesson plan using algebra (just an example) that somehow gives a cultural Indiginous perspective.

Here is a little story that I think about a lot. I used to have this "pal" that I adored very much who was a Reverend in the Anglican Church. He was a lovely old man who was an amazing artist and a life long historian in British Columbia. He taught at a Residential School for years and years under the Anglican Church, and having known him and talked to him over time, it was apparent that he was extremely educated and knowledgeable about many many things, I truly admired his obvious intelligence. However, as I stated, he was a teacher at a residential school and this was a very inconvenient truth. I can't say for certain what he was like as a young man, but I would be very disappointed to learn that he was an abuser, but I just don't know, I sure like to think he might have been one of the few "good guys" who just had stuff so wrong, but was personally good, but again, I just don't know. We only discussed Residential Schooling once, and out of respect for our relationship and his age, I went easy on him a bit. He acknowledged that the system got it all wrong, and he was obviously pained by what had transpired and all the horror stories that were coming to light. He said to me once that he hoped people would know that there were situations where Residential Schools filled a gap in social services when social services didn't really exist in white or Indiginous communities. I believe what he meant, was that there were social problems in the Indiginous communities, and in some cases the school's relieved some Indiginous families from the reality of raising children in poverty and addiction. Of course I am not justifying this, white folks have to own their part in creating and perpetuating the problem and we now know how damaging it is to take children away from their cultural realities and identities. But maybe what my friend The Rev said was accurate in that some children were sent to Residential School in lieu of organized social services within their own communities back then. Maybe my friend was just wishful thinking and this was his personal spin to live with what he had participated in, I don't know? But I do think that once we accept that horrible atrocities occurred, that there may be room for a difficult but balanced discussion about why the churches did what they did, and an acknowledgement that not every teacher or religious leader was a monster, even though sadly many were.

I truthfully would rather have a "seminar" of Indiginous teachings given by an Indiginous teacher/elder somewhere in the school year. Yes it can be taught by white teachers (kinda), but I've not seen anything as poignant as taking a group of kids through the closed Kamloops Residential School being led by a Native Elder and facing the demons head on. I'm telling you that if you haven't experienced this you really should, it might be the only activity I've ever done with 30 kids where you could hear a pin drop. I feel qualified enough to teach this stuff, but I just think it gives it so much more importance to be delivered by someone who is carrying the legacy to this day.

Kudos to you for posting your story. Some great and appreciated incite there, and I'm afraid we're going to run out of time with the people who were directly involved.

Also, it amazes me that even though some heinous things happened, some that I've hear about first-hand, there are still those who were affected that remain inseparable from their faith, and they continue the bond with one another, too.

And I was a bit hot under the collar when I posted above--sorry. But I want to mention there are lots of other ‘system’ details involve—good and bad. From Residential Schools to fully paid university tuition in the generation immediately following. Also good and bad experiences with band council, municipal, territorial, provincial, and the Federal government. The law and social / Catholic services. Just sayin’ . . .. It’s like Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his recent message to the NeoNazis. When you have cancer, you try every available treatment available until it’s gone. And that’s what this family is still doing. Kudos to the grandmother and mother—the fiercest mommabears I’ve ever known. And mommabears don’t cast blame—they attack!

So now, what do you think of this?

A SHARED TRAIL (a curriculum based First Nations field trip – Grades 5 to 12)

The Shared Trail plan looks great,especially for that age group.Only question I have is what the Komagata Maru and the head tax have to do with Indigenous curriculum, or why it would be included? Hopefully they will get the spelling of it straight in whatever program they inject it into. Also where the funds would come from for this, since almost every kind of extra curricular or cultural field trip has been eliminated due to cutbacks.